// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Man who transported Omagh bomb was an MI5 and Garda agent, inquiry told
The 1998 Omagh bomb killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins
The detective who led the Omagh bombing investigation has told an inquiry that he believes the man who transported the bomb was an agent for both the UK security services agency MI5 and the gardaí (Irish police).
Retired Ch Supt Norman Baxter gave evidence to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry on Friday.
He said: "As I went through the investigation it became very apparent that an individual was a Garda agent. It became apparent that in one operation there was a high potential that he was jointly handled by the security services."
Baxter said he also believed that intelligence services were aware of the bombers' activity before they carried out the Omagh bombing.
Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, died in the Real IRA bombing in the County Tyrone town on 15 August 1998 - the biggest single atrocity in the Troubles.
Baxter said he "formed the view that Special Branch, the security service and GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) knew prior to 15 August 1998 the identities of some if not all of the suspects involved in the Omagh bomb".
"The amount of information they knew I can't assess but yes, they knew."
Baxter told the hearing that there was "significant effort by the Garda to prevent their activities being uncovered".
"The Irish government and particularly the Ministry of Justice, have failed to investigate the Garda operations in the period leading up to Omagh, he added saying he was "saddened" by the "absolute failure" of the police investigation.